Marcelo Bielsa likes the look of the Leicester model - Independent 6/11/21
The Foxes visit Elland Road in the Premier League on Sunday.
Sean Taylor
Marcelo Bielsa believes Leicester provide an ideal
blue-print to follow if Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani is to realise his
dream of bringing European football back to Elland Road
Like Leeds, the Foxes spent time in League One following
relegation from the Premier League and both clubs have managed to work their
way back up to the top flight.
Leeds last played in Europe during the 2002-03 season.
Bielsa brought an end to their 16-year absence from the Premier League in 2020
and guided them to a ninth-placed finish last season.
Leicester, champions of England in 2016, are now considered
an established top-flight club and continue to thrive, having lifted the FA Cup
last season.
Their achievements have not been lost on Bielsa, whose team
host the Foxes on Sunday.
Asked about Radrizzani’s recent comments on hoping that
Leeds will be playing European football in the next “two or three years”, he
said: “Having looked at Leicester’s activity in the last decade I can’t pick a
better example of how it needs to be done.
“I do believe the president is an ambitious person and
normally his objectives he achieves them, and he generates a process to be able
to get to them.
“As a result it would be convenient that whatever he says,
he backs it up. Of course I never talk about the future because the president
is in charge of my time.
“It is normal that the first authority of the club imagines
the future because the construction of the future is not like the management of
the day to day.”
Bielsa was also full of praise for Leicester boss Brendan
Rodgers.
He said: “I think Rodgers right now is better than I was
when I was his age. When I was his age I had control of a lot less things than
he does at the moment.
“To be able to do what he does today you have to be very
capable and when I was his age there was just three of us surrounding the team.
Now, as well as the players, you have to manage 25 other players to be able to
take a team forward.”
Leeds are assessing Jamie Shackleton and Junior Firpo ahead
of Sunday’s game. Shackleton was forced off with a knock at Norwich, while
Firpo has been out for more than a month after sustaining a muscle injury
during the October international break.
